Title: Raise Living Youth / Dan 1:1-21
Contents Raise young people / Dan 1:1-21
Judah has fallen. In other words, the country was destroyed.
Daniel 1:1-2
Babylon took the Jews captive and gave them brainwashing training.
verse 4
made to embrace the culture.
verse 7
He also changed the name of the confession of faith in God in this way and in the Babylonian style. They tried to destroy the country and even destroy the spirit.
At this point, it must be said that everything has collapsed, but looking at the entire book of Daniel, it seems that it has not collapsed. Let's take a look at how Israel was able to stand firm in the midst of the crisis of losing both its nation and its spirit in this age. The answer was because there were young men of faith. If there are young people of faith, the future of the country and people will never be shaken. If you raise young people who are alive in spirit, there is hope. In that sense, the young people who wake up at dawn and come to the Lord are the hope of the church, the hope of the nation, and the hope of the nation. Let’s take a look at three types of young people we need to raise.
1. We need to nurture young people with spirit and will.
Verse 8: “Daniel decided not to defile himself with the king’s delicacies and with the wine he drinks.”
2. We must raise living young people with challenges.
If you hold on to the Word rather than just adapting to the environment, you are bound to challenge the waves of the world.
verse 8
Instead of sitting and waiting, they were active.
Verse 9, “God made Daniel to find grace and mercy from the chief of the eunuch.”
1 Timothy 1:18 “I command you by this warning, son Timothy, to fight the good fight with it, according to the prophecy that previously directed you.”
It is to hold on to the word of God and fight the good fight.
1 Timothy 6:12
This is an active expression.
2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith”
Faith is about challenging and fighting.
We do not fight because we are not armed with the Word. Without the armament of the Word, the spirit is not alive, so rather than fighting, they avoid and run away and become afraid. Young people in their 20s are afraid, frustrated, and avoiding the world. The evil devil destroys all souls. If the spirit is alive, the spirit of challenge is alive.
Verses 12-13 "I beg you, after testing your servants for ten days, and giving them food to eat and water to drink, compare our faces before you with the faces of the boys eating the king's delicacies, and tell them what you see. Please dispose of it. >
People who have faith take a challenge. When people who live according to God's principles challenge those who live according to the principles of the world, if God is with them, they will be able to win.
Verse 15: “After ten days, their faces were more beautiful, and their flesh was fuller, and they looked better than all the boys who ate the king’s delicacies.”
Even if you eat only vegetables, if God is with you, you will win. God's people must know how to take on such a challenge. Take the Word of God and test it to the world. The saints do not test God, but test the world with the power of God. The world seems strong, but if you go out with the Word of God, you can see that it is nothing.
If you look at Daniel 3, you can see the figure of Nebuchadnezzar who was afraid of Daniel living in the furnace. Doesn't it prove to the whole world how futile the world's power is? Wasn't Nebuchadnezzar's arrogant man crazy after all? This is the Christian challenge. You can fight any number of times and win. The spirit must be alive and the spirit of challenge must be alive.
3. We must nurture living young people with skills.
You must have overwhelming skills not only in the spiritual part, but also in the secular life.
Verse 17: “Besides God gave these four young men knowledge, and gave them understanding in all learning and skill, Daniel also understood and understood all visions and dreams.”
It's that his skills were strong. It means that you have strong knowledge both physically and spiritually.
Verse 20, “When the king inquired of them all things, he did not find that his wisdom and understanding were ten times greater than that of all the clowns and magicians of the whole country.”
His skills were superior. How can the people who wake up to pray and prepare before God every morning fall behind the world? People who live by the wisdom of God. Seek the wisdom of God. Seek the power of God. We must become God's people with living eyes. We must raise God's people, which the world cannot ignore. You have to compete with your skills.
When David defeated Goliath, it is easy to judge that Goliath was defeated by blindly closing his eyes and throwing stones with the power of God.
Psalm 78:70-71 “And he chose David his servant, and he took them from the sheepfolds, and led them from the care of the milking sheep, to herd his people Jacob, and his inheritance Israel.”
It was chosen by God. He was led from a shepherd to a king.
Psalm 78:72 "Then he nourished him with the sincerity of his heart, and guided him with the skillfulness of his hands."
It was that he had sincerity and faith in his heart. Another thing is that the technology is excellent. There was also the skill of raising sheep, and there was the skill of quacking. It was practiced and prepared. David didn't just become king. It wasn't a happy life. So that's what God used. After morning prayer, do not sleep and prepare. You have to prepare thoroughly and beat yourself up to be submissive. Raising these young people means that there is a future.
A young person who can take responsibility for the future must meet three conditions. A young man with a living spirit, a young man with a sense of challenge, and a living young man with skills. Holding on to the three words of spirit, challenge and ability, I pray that you will become a servant of faith who is born again and grows as a balanced believer before God.